Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom Synopsis

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore -- and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.

Despite being one of the best films to come out last year, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom will be sadly underrepresented at this year's Academy Awards. While movies like Lincoln, Argo, Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook picked up spots in just about every category, Anderson's film received only one nomination: Best Original Screenplay.

For the most part this year’s award season race is a total toss-up – there were simply so many great movies released last year that it’s nearly impossible to determine the frontrunner for Hollywood’s top prizes. That said, however, it’s been the same group of titles that has been getting nominations from various organizations...

For the last two weeks we have been applauding the best work of the year, from our individual critical top 10s to lists of our favorite action scenes, on-screen couples, facial hair statements, lines of dialogue, breakthrough performances and much more. And now it’s time to celebrate those very special moments of 2012 when cinema and music fell into perfect harmony.

As we put a cap on the cinematic year, we wanted to go back and single out the duos who turned our heads with combustible on-screen chemistry. We admit to cheating in at least one selection, and we admit an over-reliance on the Hollywood “bromance.” But we think it’s a great list.

With a ton of prizes to hand out and a splashy ceremony just before the Oscars in February, the Independent Spirit Awards are the biggest night of the year for independent film, and the best chance for many small-scale films to get into the spotlight, But the word "independent" has been fuzzy in these awards for years now

The Gotham Awards are among the first prizes handed out in the annual Hollywood awards season, but if you're already sick of Oscar bait and pre-canned speeches, the Gothams are something a little bit different Honoring the best in independent film, the Gotham Awards frequently highlight some of the oddballs that won't get attention in the wider awards season

The first movie awards show of the season also tends to be one of the most interesting, as every year the Gotham Independent Film Awards showcase some of the most fascinating and under appreciated indie films released-- including many that have absolutely zero shot at Oscar attention. They've kept up that tradition this year, announcing a slate of nominees

Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is an amusing tale of twelve-year-old love, written not for makeup-caked tween girls or surprisingly confident boys but for the adults who can totally appreciate the film’s subtleties. Moonrise Kingdom is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on October 16 and, to celebrate the release, Universal Home Entertainment has brought us an excusive—and super cute clip—to share with fans.

Moonrise Kingdom will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand on October 16, which means if you have not been able to catch the flick in theaters, you will have time to pick it up for home viewing extremely soon. Anderson’s eighth feature film endeavor follows Sam and Suzy, a 1960’s troop scout and his 12-year-old love, as they attempt to run away from their respective island residences.

We’re gearing up for the fall film season, when studios stockpile most of their possible awards contenders. The last few months of 2012 should be crowded with valuable viewing opportunities, so we wanted to take a moment and reflect on the best films we’ve seen so far this year. Hopefully, we’ll spotlight a film you haven’t seen yet, and, if so, inspire you to go hunt it down as soon as you can.

The spot does an amazing job showcasing the film's tone, color palette and signature Anderson dialogue without giving away any of the actual plot events. I also love the joke about the meaning behind the film's title. I wish more marketing material followed this formula where the writer and director (or in this case, writer-director) create something separate and special for the previews without using any material from the finished film.

Rock of Ages didn't exactly rock it out this weekend. Proof that people would rather see Tom Cruise running fast and blowing things up than singing with major band hair, the movie opened with a dismal $15 million for a weak third place.

Wes Anderson is a very special filmmaker. Every year Hollywood produces hundreds of projects that all look exactly the same, but Anderson has always worn his style on his sleeve, never afraid to be different and creating some incredible films in the process. But what inspires him to make movies the way he does? What is his inspiration? How does he build his ensemble casts and get them to keep coming back?

Casting for the production has finally concluded with Alexie Gilmore, Lucas Hedges, and Micah Fowler joining the ensemble that also includes James Van Der Beek and Clark Greg. Newcomer Fowler will play a boy named Barry, whose mother Evelyn is friends with Adele. Gilmore, who can be seen in Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America, will play Henry's step-mother Marjorie, while Hedges will play her son

Inspired by the covers of the books—created specifically for the film—and their accompanying captions, this short offers not only an expansion on the world of Moonrise Kingdom but also an added insight into the enigmatic Suzy, who is far more guarded than most movie tweens

Summer generally brings on waves of sequels to fish extra cash out of audiences wallets without all the hassle of coming up with new characters or concepts. It's a proven technique that once again banked some solid box office results this weekend.

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom has been scoring plenty of praise, not only from critics who have cheered his tender tale of two romance-fueled adolescent runaways, but also from the business end of the filmmaking industry as this limited release has recently broken the record for non-animated per screen averages. And as the limited release continues to expand to new cities, Focus Features is unveiling more and more online content...

This week on Operation Kino, we've packed some stolen library books, a cat in a basket and a lifetime's supply of blue eyeshadow, as we embark on the child-sized adventure that is Wes Anderson's new film Moonrise Kingdom. From there we go on to discuss Kevin Smith's new review show for Hulu, and how his anti-critic attitude might be becoming more mainstream

While Bill Murray doesn't make a ton of movies nowadays, if there's a Wes Anderson film in development you know that he's going to be a part of it. Whether it's for an extremely small role (such as his cameo in The Darjeeling Limited) or the title character (such as The Aquatic Life With Steve Zissou), Murray has shown his love of working with Anderson by appearing in every single one of the director's features since Rushmore

Moonrise Kingdom doesn't open in theaters until May 25, but it's preparing for its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this week, which means it's a perfect time to introduce some new featurettes about the movie. And because it wouldn't be a Wes Anderson movie if everything, including the marketing, didn't feel meticulously planne

Of the upcoming smaller releases, few are more anticipated than Moonrise Kingdom. The first live-action film from Wes Anderson since 2007's The Darjeeling Limited, the upcoming film looks phenomenal and hilarious, but what's most fascinating about the movie is that it groups together actors who you wouldn't necessarily ever imagine seeing in a project together.

Aykroyd had at long last admitted Bill Murray would have nothing to do with it. This sounded like the death rattle for Ghostbusters 3, and after hearing some of Aykroyd's horrifying pitches—including dispirited, crippled Ghostbusters, a dead Venkman, and some young blood in the form of female eye-candy

I love so many individual little things in this, from Edward Norton's stern scoutleader to Bill Murray's shellshocked expression to the trio of kids in their pajamas who look ready to raise hell. If you look closely you can see Tilda Swinton in the photo that Jason Schwartzman is holding

I might be a little biased, seeing as I'm already very much looking forward to the new film from Wes Anderson, but this poster for Moonrise Kingdom is heart-burstingly beautiful. Yes it's twee and overproduced and a little goofy, but that's Wes Anderson for you, and if you like his previous work this poster is right in that ballpark

Though I wouldn't trade his The Fantastic Mr. Fox for anything, it's been far too long since Wes Anderson made a live-action film, which makes his new effort Moonrise Kingdom even more hotly anticipated than it might be otherwise. Starring a lot of his regular cohort, including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray

I find it hard to imagine that any real film fan isn't over-the-moon excited for Wes Anderson's next project. The story of a young, in-love couple that runs away and causes everyone in their hometown to panic, the movie's helmer alone is more than enough to raise interest, but the cast also happens to be the filmmaker's most notable cast since The Royal Tenenbaums

If it were up to me, studios wouldn't hesitate in picking up a movie by Wes Anderson. Even the man's worst film is better than 90% of movies released in thousands of cinemas nationwide every weekend. However, not including Bottle Rocket (which was never released in more than 50 theaters), his movies only average a little over $25 million domestically.

Ever since making his first feature film, Bottle Rocket, back in 1996, Wes Anderson has made a habit of casting the same group of actors in all of his movies. Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, and Jason Schwartzman have all appeared in no less than three of Anderson's six movies, and now the last name on that list is joining the cast of his newest.